Gymnastics: Gold by curl of toenails

Ethan Phillips and Laura Johnson with their spoils at Omni Gymnastics hall.

Ethan Phillips knows too well the intricacies of mastering the discipline of rings in gymnastics.

"I only won by 0.2 points so it was very close," says Phillips, after returning from Texas with a gold medal in rings and a bronze in parallel bars during the Valerie Liukin Invitational from December 11-13.

"That means if I hadn't pointed my toes in I wouldn't have got gold," says the former Napier Boys' High School pupil, who will turn 18 on February 21.

But what the teenager hadn't anticipated - something many sports people take for granted - was becoming a cog in the wheel as a member of the New Zealand team of four competing in the 13 to 18-year-old category of level niners in a field of 16, including Americans and Mexicans.

With the isolation of engaging in a minor sport in Hawke's Bay, the Omni Gymnastics member has been honing his skills here with one other male member in his age group, Levi Cox, the son of coach Jo Cox. Consequently, he had qualified as an individual.

"I wasn't just competing for myself but for the team so I put a lot of stress on myself when I made a mistake because I took the blame for things more than I probably should have."

But all that, Phillips hopes, is about to change in a fortnight when he heads to Auckland University of Technology to study chiropractic therapy.

"For me, personally, Tri-Star Gymnastics [in Mt Roskill] is the best," he says, emphasising that Cox, who became a volunteer coach because her children were involved, has done a splendid job over the years but it's imperative he courts professional mentoring if he wants to broaden his horizons.

That realm factors in the possibility of competing at the 2018 Gold Coast Commonwealth Games or, if not achieved, than the 2022 Durban Games in South Africa.

He momentarily entertains thoughts of Olympic Games but soon prioritises Commonwealth Games.

"In future, if we keep doing well in New Zealand, we may have the chance to go to the Olympics."

Needless to say, Phillips has acquired a sense of collective responsibility in Texas "with a bunch of good guys".

The team were not expecting to win anything after watching video footage of the Americans so to come away with medals was "surrealist".

Winning the rings at the nationals was an indicator to Texas because parallel bars isn't his cup of tea but something he includes in his routines as a senior to represent his club.

The bloke whose mother, Tracey Phillips, channelled his hyperactive energies to gymnastics at 3, suspects he's gravitating towards chiropractic therapy "because it builds an awareness of the body".

For a hyperactive child, gymnastics has helped Phillips, who is the first male Omni gymnast in almost two decades to represent his country, immensely but it demands more.
"Gymnastics is an elegant sport so you need some finesse, too."

If anything, the Texas trip has planted a seed in his mind to try to secure a scholarship.

"I loved everything about it so I'll try to pursue studies over there [the US] but I'm not sure if it'll happen at all," he says, mindful basketball, golf, soccer, swimming and athletics tend to find more traction.